Sunday Silence line delivers two Breeders' Cup wins for Japan

Sunday Silence, winner of the 1989 Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Breeders’ Cup Classic, spent his entire stud career in Japan. There, he found a perfectly complementary gene pool and became a breed-shaping sire whose impact in his adopted country cannot be overstated.

More than three decades following his Classic score, and nearly two decades after his death in 2002, Sunday Silence’s influence continues unabated through his descendants. His influence was seen on Saturday, as his sireline was responsible for a long-sought prize, the first victories by Japanese-based horses in Breeders’ Cup races.

Loves Only You was up between horses for a dramatic half-length victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, securing the historic first win for Japan. Three races later, countrywoman Marche Lorraine scored a shocking upset in the Distaff, flying late for a nose victory that returned $101.80. The two mares are by a pair of Japanese Triple Crown winners in Deep Impact and Orfevre, respectively.

Deep Impact, who died in 2019, was a son of Sunday Silence, and followed in his sire’s hoofprints as a multi-time leading sire in Japan. Orfevre, who has been standing at stud since 2014, is by the late Stay Gold, another son of Sunday Silence.